Hundreds of protesters in Faridpur's Bhanga upazila vandalised the upazila parishad building and local police station after thousands gathered to protest the re-demarcation of parliamentary constituencies.
Besides, they damaged and set fire to several government offices and smashed multiple police vehicles during the unrest.
The incident occurred around 1:00pm on Monday. As of filing this report at 3:00pm, the miscreants had left the scene of violence.
As a result of the unrest, vehicular movement on the Faridpur-Barishal and Dhaka-Khulna highways has been completely suspended, leaving a tense and volatile atmosphere across the area.
Confirming the incident, Bhanga Highway Police Station OC Rokibuzzaman said, "Everything was normal on the highways this morning. Suddenly, thousands of protesters attacked the Upazila Parishad office and police station, carrying out vandalism and arson. More details will be shared later."
Thousands of protesters stormed the Upazila Parishad office premises, vandalised multiple other government offices and set several of them on fire.
The violence soon spread to the local police station, where the demonstrators attacked and destroyed at least three police vehicles as well as an ambulance and several motorcycles.
Fire service units rushed to the scene and managed to bring the blaze under control.
The protest erupts following a recent gazette notification regarding the redrawing of parliamentary constituencies on 4 September. According to the revised boundaries, the Algi and Hamirdi unions of Bhanga were excluded from the Faridpur-4 constituency and included under Faridpur-2.
Locals have been blocking highways and railway lines for the past five days in protest. These blockades have disrupted transportation across 21 districts in the south-western region, including the vital Dhaka-Khulna and Faridpur-Barishal highways.
Several attempts were made to reach Bhanga Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Ashraf Hossain for comment, but he did not answer.
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